


Secrets

by tiahwinchester



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Reader Insert, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-19 13:13:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4747739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiahwinchester/pseuds/tiahwinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce has wanted you for ages, but he's not acting like it? In fact, every time you do something together, he has to pretend you're not dating. He seems to always come up with some excuse to hide your romance. You just want to shout to the world how great Bruce Greene is, but he won't let you just yet. Will you stand it out until he's ready to tell people, or will you snap?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Requests

**Author's Note:**

> Lmao I'm Bruce Greene trash, judge me all you want but you know he's cuter than u.

It caught you by surprise when Bruce pulled you back after work one Friday afternoon. “Sorry, did I mess up the exporting of the Demo Disk? Shit, I knew I should have waited till it was done instead of going out to lunch…” you apologised and moaned. Great, another fuck up.

Bruce smiled for a moment and went back to staring at the floor as he leant on Matt’s desk, “No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong…I was just thinking about stuff and uh…” he trailed off; clearly his mind was questionably thinking if he should continue.

“What’s up? I can work overtime if I have to. I’ve got nothing planned tonight.” You assured him, your nights consisted of going home, showering, eating, and catching up on your latest show.

“Well…I was more wondering about what you’ve got going on on Sunday?”

You gulped, what was he getting at? Did he really expect you to work a _Sunday_?

He continued, “There this wedding...one of my old friends…and we’re allowed to bring a plus one and…I was only wondering if…you wanted to attend with me?”

He sounded unsure of his words. Was this supposed to be a date? Or did he really just need a friend to go with…because if this was his idea of a first date it was a pretty shitty choice. “Yeah, I mean sure, if you really need someone to go with. That’s what friends do.”

He looked up at you and looked almost ghostly white. “Oh, right.” He cleared his throat. “Well, actually, maybe I’ll just go stag…probably best anyway. I’ll see you on Monday.” He hurried out of the room fast, but you stopped him before he could go any further than the exit.

“Hey, Bruce wait.”

He stood still next to the open roller door and turned back around as you paced over to him.

“Did you want to go to the wedding as friends…or as a date?” you asked nervously.

Bruce smiled, “I thought we hired someone smart.”

“Oh, please, I’m definitely the smartest here.” You joked back.

“But, yeah…I’d like it to be as a-er-date…”

You hoped that the quickly approaching darkness hid your slightly flushed cheeks. “Well then, what time are you picking me up?”

“10. The wedding and the reception will probably take the whole day, so don’t expect to be home until around 9:30.”

“Alright, then, I’ll pick out my dress.”

Bruce smiled like he’d won a trophy and bid you goodnight as he walked away to his car. You pulled a small remote out of you jeans pocket and clicked the button that made the roller door close. As you unlocked your car and sat in the driver’s seat, you thought about what just took place. You’d never really thought of Bruce like that…I mean, he was definitely attractive, and yeah he was pretty sweet and generous and one of the funniest people you knew,  but you’d never thought of actually doing the whole dating process with him, it was either straight to sex or all the lovey-dovey cuddling and kissing stuff. What if this ruined the chemistry the whole group had? What if this affected their daily work routine? What if you’d just fucked up everything? Maybe it didn’t matter for now; it was only just one date after all. You started your car and drove home to your apartment.

* * *

 

Then, as you were lying on your bed in your pj’s, was when your phone buzzed with Bruce’s name as the texter.

‘ _I’ve got some pretty shitty news_ ’

You felt half relieved and half disappointed, ‘ _you told the groom he could do better so now you’re uninvited to the wedding?_ ’ you texted back, half joking but half nervously pushing the send button.

‘ _No, although I’m sad you’d think so crappy of me_ ’

You giggled to yourself.

‘ _I just found out that my ex-girlfriend is going to be there_ >:(‘

You frowned, ‘ _So? Did she burn your clothes or slash your tires?_ ’

‘ _No…but she’s probably crazy enough to do that._ ’

Again, you huffed in amusement, and let him continue.

‘ _We were in a relationship for 9 years, and one day I just woke up and…didn’t love her anymore. So I broke up with her. Last time I talked to one of her friends 8 months ago, she said she never got over me. She’s not seeing anyone so she’s going alone to the wedding. I just don’t want to show up with someone else while she’s depressed and hasn’t got anyone._ ’

You sighed audibly and felt your heart sink with the deep breath. ‘ _That’s okay. You have fun though! :)_ ’ you texted back half-heartedly.

‘ _I still want you to come with me :P we just…won’t be able to be seen together a lot…or at least just not around her…_ ’

You bit your lip, that’s going to suck. While she’s around you’re both going to have to split up. But what if you didn’t go because of this, and Bruce felt so embarrassed that he didn’t ever ask you out on another date. That would suck even worse. ‘ _Yeah, that’s fine. I’m all cool with that. I’ll see you on Sunday?_ ’

‘ _Yeah, see you then. Thank again :)_ ’

‘ _Don’t mention it,_ ’ you typed as you yawned, ‘ _Good night_.’

‘ _Night, Y/N_ ’

You closed your eyes and hoped that your dreams were filled with Bruce in a well-fitting suit.


	2. Conflict

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit I did not expect this to be so many words. Whoops. I guess this is gonna be a somewhat long fic!!!

You plaited two parts of your hair so it curled around your hair like a crown tied the two pieces together. You looked in the long mirror at your blue dress. You didn’t want to wear anything too fancy as to out show the bride and her bridesmaids, but the dress was still pretty all the same. Your phone buzzed.

‘ _Be there in 5_ ’ was what Bruce had said.

You took a deep breath and sat down on your bed. Your heart was beating fast and your skin felt itchy. You breathed aloud and assured yourself, it’ll all be fine. A knock on the door made you jump. You tucked a stray hair behind your ear and walked out to answer. Bruce was leaning on the opposite wall with his arms crossed, to your disappointment, he wasn’t wearing a suit, instead he was wearing suit pants and a formal shirt.

“Ready to go?” he said, looking you up and down.

“Yeah,” you smiled. He led you down to his car where you sat fiddling with your fingers in your lap.

“You look beautiful by the way.” He commented as the silence became almost too awkward.

“Oh,” you blushed a little, but looked away and out the window as you thanked him, “thanks, it’s really nothing. I hope I’m not too overdressed…”

“I’m sorry about the whole, “ex-girlfriend” thing. I just don’t want to be shitty to her, y’know? It was 9 years after all…” he apologized, his voice trailing off as he looked straight forward.

You understood his mindset, you would do the same thing, you just didn’t want to be stranded for most of the wedding, especially if it was going to take all day. “Honestly, it’s fine.” You assured him although you yourself were not convinced.

After a short drive, you both arrived to a beautiful beach wedding. Bruce opened your car door and led you towards the crowd of people already socialising.

“Shit,” he murmured as you just approached everyone, “she’s right there.” He let go of your arm hurriedly. “Can you go get us a drink?” he nodded towards the small table with a punch bowl and two small cupcake holders.

You nodded and somewhat sadly walked over and poured drinks into two glasses. You watched as Bruce chatted to a group of gentlemen and then your eyes wandered around the crowd. Bruce didn’t seem to be staring in anticipation at anyone so it was hard to locate his old girlfriend. Eventually you got tired of waiting and waded your way through the crowd to hand him his drink. You smiled up at him as he gladly took the glass.

“And who is this?” asked one of the men, looking quizzically from you to Bruce.

“This is…” he cleared his throat, “my friend, Y/N, from work.”

You clenched your jaw but smiled at the men nonetheless. It’s probably just because this is your first date, you weren’t _technically_ “dating” yet.

There was a loud clapping sound and someone called out “The ceremony will begin in a few minutes, if everyone could please take their seats.”

You followed Bruce to the rows of seats along the beach. You wished you didn’t wear sandals because sand was gathering in between your toes. “You could’ve told me it was a beach wedding.” You mumbled to Bruce as you made a mental note to take off your shoes the moment you sat down.

“Why? What difference would that make?” he asked as he searched for seats.

“Well, I’m clearly not dressed for these-conditions.” Your dress was now blowing up in the wind. How the hell did anyone think this was a good idea?

There was a row of seats a little ways towards the back which contained 5 people spread across leaving a one chair gap in between each of them. For a moment, you though Bruce was going to make you sit in between two strangers but he asked one of the ladies sitting down if she could move down one. She did and Bruce took her seat as you sat next to him. You unbuckled your shoes and slipped them off, holding them in your hand.

“So who’s wedding is it?” you asked as who you guessed to be the groom arrived next to the alter.

“One of my old friends from high school. We still keep in touch now and then but as the cycle goes, we kind of drifted apart eventually. I’m glad he never forgot me though.” Bruce explained. He reached an arm across your chair and looked down at you. “Thank you again, for coming along. I know it’s not a very good date idea but just know that I had planned something better for us to do on Saturday instead, but this kind of came up, and I needed a date anyway, so y’know…”

“No, it’s fine. It’s a nice wedding. Despite the windy weather.” You kind of grumbled over the last sentence as you could feel your hair blowing rapidly.

“I’m not really a wedding kind of guy.”

The comment caught you off guard. You’d always imagined Bruce settling down, having a few kids, being a great friend, husband, and father. It wasn’t really your place to ask, but your mind wouldn’t settle until you knew, “Not a wedding, or _marriage_ kind of guy?”

He shrugged and looked back up at the scene surrounding them. The seats were draped in yellow lace and the alter ahead of them was covered in pretty daisy’s. “A bit of both I guess. Even if I was to get married, I wouldn’t have my wedding at the beach.”

“How come?”

He smiled, “Because I can’t stop thinking about all the dolphins that are probably doing it in that ocean right now and how many kids have peed and shit in it.”

You giggled. “Lovely.”

He beamed down at you, “Your smile is amazing.”

You looked down at your bare feet to hide your flushed cheeks. You were saved any further words by music beginning to play slowly. Everyone turned around in their seats to watch the beautiful bride, dressed in a flowing, soft yellow dress with a flower crown of yellow roses pinned into her hair. She stared only at her groom and her look of pure love and happiness made you feel fond and envious at the same time. She reached the alter and they joined hands.

Whilst the minister read from his book, Bruce leant in and whispered into your ear, “That’s her. That’s my ex-girlfriend.” He nodded forwards. You sat up a little but could only make out three women in the crowd.

“Which one, the two on the left or the one on the right?”

“The blonde one on the left.”

Her hair was golden and it was tied in a low pony tail.

“God, I feel so bad.” He sunk in his seat and covered his face as if she would look back and scold him.

“Why should you? It’s been at _least_ 8 months since you guys broke up?”

“No, you don’t get it. _We_ didn’t break up, _I_ ended it, after fucking 9 years with nothing more than an “It’s over.” He felt ashamed and embarrassed, he clearly felt like a real dick for doing it.

“Do you regret it?” you asked nervously. What if this wedding was what reunited them, and Bruce ran off with her after this and never talked to you again.

“No. Not really, I mean, I didn’t love her. I couldn’t keep leading her on.” He explained sadly.

“Didn’t lover _at all_ , or didn’t _anymore_.” You felt a bit nosey but Bruce wasn’t protesting, so why not use this time to find out a little more.

There was a short pause before Bruce muttered, “Anymore.” and sat back up.

The bride finished her vows and the minister pronounced them husband and wife. “You may now kiss the bride.” They kissed each other lovingly and the spectators erupted in cheers and tears as they quickly paced back up the aisle.

Bruce placed his hand on the small of your back as you both made your way back to the gathering area to wait for the reception to open up.

“That was a short ceremony.” You commented as you checked phone, it was only 11:37.

“Yeah, listen, I’m gonna go and talk to her, could you wait by that tree for a few minutes.” He said, already walking over to where his ex-girlfriends stood.

Reluctantly, and feeling quite ditched, you walk over to the punch bowl and poured yourself a drink to sip on as you waited for Bruce by the tree.

A few minutes passes and he was still chatting with her. They weren’t laughing or anything, in fact they looked quite awkward and serious, which gave you a little relief. You pulled out your phone and decided to scroll through the endless pits of social media.

On twitter, James was advertising how he and Elyse were about to start streaming. Burnie was once again promoting their nomination for the Streamys. Barbara was posting her mandatory selfie of the day. You switched over to Facebook. Nothing, nothing, some vine, some half naked chick, some guy with his shirt off, nothing, 1 like=1 prayer, you exited the app. Right, _that_ was why you never went on Facebook anymore. Bruce was _still_ talking to her. Should you go over? Or respect his decision. He was your ride home, maybe it was best not to piss him off. You took a sip of your drink and smiled uncomfortably at anyone who walked past you. Finally, Bruce looked over at you and gave you an apologetic look, but he still didn’t walk over to you. Instead, he began talking to a group of older people. He looked back at you and mouthed ‘sorry’ and then pointed with his head over to his ex-girlfriend who was standing next to a plant and glancing at him now and then.

You huffed and went back to you phone. You mindlessly scrolled through post after post as you waited, bored and annoyed. Your phone vibrated and you pressed the message.

Bruce Greene

‘ _I’m really sorry_!’

‘ _It’s fine_ ’ god you were tired of saying that. It was your first date and he already managed to make it one of your worst.

‘ _You know you really do look gorgeous_ ’

You smiled for a moment but quickly went back to being neutral so he could know that you were still pretty ticked off. ‘ _I know I do. I picked my outfit_ ;)’

‘ _Really though, your outfit, your hair, your makeup, your sandy bare feet_ ’ you huffed in amusement, ‘ _It’s making my head spin. How does someone like you even exist_?’

You rolled your eyes. ‘ _don’t try to sweet talk me Mr Greene_.’

‘ _Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t mind if you kept calling me that_ ;)’

You smirked slightly, ‘ _Oh really_?’ you encouraged him to continue.

‘ _Yeah. And although you look beautiful in that dress, I can’t help but wonder how you’d look out of it_ ’

You swallowed. Was this conversation really going _this_ way? So soon? ‘ _I guess you’ll just have to find out yourself_ ’You quickly locked your phone and held it to your chest. Your heart was beating pretty fast and you smiled to yourself. Did that really just happen? Your phone vibrated again but you couldn’t bring yourself to check it in fear that you would squeal or turn a crimson red. Luckily, the doors to the reception area opened and everyone filed in. You pushed your way through the crowd to quickly join Bruce in finding your assigned seats. On table 12, ‘ _Bruce Green & \+ One_’ was written neatly on a card.

Waiters came around to fill up their glasses with your choice of champagne or wine. You chose white wine while Bruce chose champagne. Next came the delicious plates of lobster, salad and chips. Hardly anyone at your table spoke as they ate but you watched Bruce as he ate mouthfuls the size of fists. You shook your head.

“What?” he said with his mouth full.

Your shook your head and stared at him while smiling.

“I’m tryna eat here, Y/N, don’t judge me okay,” he joked and you almost choked on some wine as you giggled.

Eventually, when the food ended with a delicious strawberry parfait, everyone got up to go on the dance floor. Everyone except practically just you and Bruce. You looked at him hopefully.

“I’m not much of a dancer…” he said.

“Bullshit. I’ve seen you at the Fullscreen parties.” You mocked him dancing with chicken wings. “You’re a natural!”

Bruce rolled his eyes, “Thanks.” He said.

You sat for a while, at one point you pulled out your phone and shuffled your chair a little closer to him. You held the phone out as Bruce did a pouty face next to you and you stuck you tongue out. You snapped the photo and put it back in your handbag. You sunk down in your chair and crossed your arms. You looked back at him once more, clearly trying to display your boredness. It was almost 4 and you guys had done nothing but sit for an hour and a half with the occasional person coming up to talk to Bruce.

Bruce chewed his cheek as he looked at you. Then his eyes flickered to another chair which you also looked at. Sitting there was Bruce’s ex-girlfriend. You looked back at him disappointed. But he was smiling and he stood up, holding out his hand. “You wanna dance?” he asked. You beamed triumphantly and took his hand.

Instead of leading you to the dance floor with everyone else, he directed you outside and around the back somewhere. There, in front of you both stood a gazebo twinkling with golden fairy lights. He walked you up to it and stood in front of you. He stood closer and placed a hand on your back, the other intertwined with your own. You let your hand rest on his shoulder as you began to dance slowly in circles. It was weird to be slow dancing to the upbeat music playing inside, but you made it work, laughing here and there when one of you accidently stood on the other toe. You looked out beside you every time you faced the beach and admired the pink sunset. “God it’s gorgeous.” You commented as the clouds above purpled in colour.

“Yeah, it is.” He said almost in a whisper. You looked at him, he was looking at you. You laughed.

“That was the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“I’m sorry; I thought it was a nice gesture.” He chuckled.

“Just be real with me okay?” you said.

He nodded and then looked out into the fading sunset. In the faint pink light, his eyes looked like whiskey when sun shone through it. He looked back at you, his eyes darted from your eyes to your lips, to your hair to your neck, all the while, he leaned in slowly.

Your heart was beating so hard right now you could feel it pumping blood throughout your body. He let go of your hand to wrap it around your waist, joining the other. You curled your hands around his neck as you both braked for a breath before continuing. Your mind was filled with thoughts of how good Bruce’s lips felt and how his beard tickled your chin. He backed you into the edge of the gazebo and his tongue licked your lips. You parted them slightly and let your tongues dance instead. “Shit, Bruce.” You hissed into the kiss, “Here? Really? You said as he picked up one of your thighs and held it against his side.

Bruce must have decided better of it, because he pulled away. He looked up and down at your flustered body for a second before smiling. “I should get you home.”

You followed him back to the car. You couldn’t stop smiling the whole ride back. Did that actually just happen? God, that felt so nice, so good, Bruce felt so passionate and it made your heart flutter.

As he pulled up outside your apartment complex he sighed.

“Thanks, Bruce.” You said as you opened the door. Just as you were about to walk out, Bruce interjected.

“Y/N, listen…I just-I don’t think the guys would react well if they knew you and I were…that we went out together…I would really appreciate it if you didn’t-er-mention any of it.” He didn’t look directly at you but instead at the gear stick.

You bit your cheek and sighed, “Sure, Bruce.” You didn’t sound pleased about it, but you somewhat agreed. What if the guys decided against it? You’d only been on one date but you surely wanted more. “See you tomorrow.” You said a little bitterly. You began pacing up the path when Bruce hurriedly called out,

“Y/N! I really enjoyed today…I’d really like to see you again…”

“Yeah,” you said back, “yeah I’d like that too.” You made your way to the elevator which took you up to your apartment floor. As you closed the door behind you, you felt somewhat bittersweet. It really sucked that you had to keep this a secret when you knew telling Joel the whole thing would make it feel 100 times better. But the date had ended so spectacularly that it almost made up for the train wreck of most of it. As you collapsed on your bed, you let your mind sort out which feeling triumphed. When you began to get a headache your etched out of your dress and climbed under the covers. You’d decide another day. You just hoped that your next date with Bruce would be soon.


	3. Sneak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MAN, to me Bruce just seems way out of character and I feel like a piece of shit for posting this but hopefully SOMEONE out there will enjoy this :/

Bruce didn’t ask you on another date on Monday. Nor the following Tuesday, or Wednesday, in fact by Thursday you wondered whether Bruce had forgotten completely about all of it.

“Do you wanna sync?” you heard him ask Adam as they streamed and recorded a Demo Disk.

Your desk was right next to Lawrence’s so you had a clear view of what went on during these recordings. James pulled out a disk after Bruce’s little intro song. They slid it in and you watched as the games failed repeatedly. Bruce shattered the disk and they pulled out another. While waiting for the games to download, Bruce demanded they play ‘sexy Jimmy Neutron games’.

“We are not ruining that show for me.” James protested but he was laughing as Bruce spoke over him repeatedly, “No, we’re playing it, Adam, do it.” He repeated.

“Adam, no! Remember our friendship!” James yelled louder.

“If you don’t type it in Adam, I will.”

Adam laughed uncontrollably.

“This is just because Bruce hasn’t gotten laid in 34 years, he takes out his sexual frustration on children’s Tv-shows-sex-games.” James was almost crying.

“Yeah, that’s it. We’ll get Y/N to help him.” Adam chuckled.

You quickly looked back to your editing at James glanced over his shoulder at you, “No, we can’t, she’s got a boyfriend. We’ll get Spoole to do it!”

“No way, Y/N’s totally single. She’s always alone every time we go out.” Said Adam, continuing to watch the download bar gradually make its way across.

“She went _some_ where last Sunday, and her Instagram photo looks like she’s with someone else.” James continued to argue. Bruce stayed silent and you found yourself staring at the back of his head wishing he’d say something.

“What photo?”

James tsked, “Don’t you keep up to date with her tweets?”

“No?” Adam laughed.

James pulled his phone out of his pocket while murmuring to Bruce, “Fake fan, clearly.” He pulled up the photo you’d posted Sunday night. It was you, at the wedding, pulling a silly face with your tongue out. You’d cropped out Bruce to respect his wish. “See? She’s all dolled up and everything. And see there?” he pointed to the left side of the photo, “There’s someone else’s face.”

“Ooooo!” Adam cooed mockingly, “Who is it, Y/N?”

You laughed for the sake of Bruce who was now staring at you wide eyed and a little sweaty. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

James smiled at you and then pretended to whine, “I thought we were friends, Y/N.”

You laughed once again, throwing your head back, but inside you felt uncomfortable and wished they’d stop. You hoped and prayed on the inside the Bruce would fucking _say something_ as Adam grabbed James’ phone and enlarged the photo. “Who the fuck…” he muttered to himself as he moved the phone around to get different angles.

“You can trust me.” Joel now joined in and you fought desperately not to walk out, you wanted to get away from there before you said anything.

Your smile was a little less convincing now and your eyes flickered to Bruce whose eyes were now watering from staring at you. James seemed to notice the movement because he frowned and tilted his head.

Luckily, before James figured it all out, Adam yelled, “Finally! Let’s get rolling.” The game was down downloading.

You sighed in relief and sunk into your chair. Bruce gave you a thankful look and turned back to the screen to continue with the guys.

Later, one by one, the guys began to leave the building. You and Matt stayed around to finish up a few more patches of editing but as you walked out of the warehouse, you found Bruce waiting at your car.

“Hey.” He smiled softly. “Listen-“ he began but you cut him off quickly. Fighting was _not_ in your best interest at the moment.

“it’s _fine_ , Bruce. Really.”

“No, I’m sorry, I should have said something. I just panicked and I was worried about that photo and them finding out and just…” he trailed off. “I don’t want them finding out…I don’t want them ruining… _this_.” He gestured towards himself and you.

“I get it. I don’t want them to either. But we have to tell them eventually.”

He nodded and then grabbed your hands, his thumb circling over your wrist. “Saturday night, Lawrence is going out to a party, want to come over?” he offered.

“Are you asking to Netflix and Chill?” you smiled up at him and giggled gently.

“I guess we’ll just have to see where it goes. Come to my place around 8” He winked and you swore your heart literally melted for a moment.

“Well alright then.” You pulled your hands away and held a finger up at him, “but you’ve gotta buy some food for us.”

He agreed and moved out of the way so you could climb into the driver’s seat. “I’ll see you then.” He bid you goodbye and you watched him fade in the rear view mirror.

* * *

 

Friday flew by in a breeze, occasionally as you passed each other you smiled knowingly at each other, but apart from that, you kept it pretty professional, or as professional as you could when your job was to basically make a bunch of dick jokes.

Saturday morning came and you found yourself agitated and anxious. It’s only at his apartment. It’s not like we’re doing anything spontaneous or adventurous. You have nothing to prove. Why are you so _nervous_? You tired desperately to distract yourself, surfing YouTube, flipping channels on TV, attempting to follow a tutorial on how to fishtail braid your hair, but all your thoughts came back to tonight, which was approaching fast. You were _just_ going to sit and watch movies for a few hours right? What have you got to be nervous about? You breathed heavily as you tied your hair into a ponytail and grabbed your handbag. As you closed your car door, you checked your face in the drop down mirror. Why was every flaw you had so much more visible in your times of vulnerability? It was _fine_. You look _fine_. You assured yourself over and over as you turned streets and stopped at lights.

Eventually, you pulled up into the carpark of his apartment building. You’d been here once before, when you just started working there, you needed Lawrence to help you work out the basics of editing. His apartment was on the fourth floor. His front door was the second on the right. You stood in front of it, not being able to knock, but not being able to walk away. A lady from two doors down walked out dressed in a small night down, her hair ruffled. “What’re you doin here honey?” she spoke with a thick accent you’d only ever seen in old movies set in Chicago.

Your mouth was dry and your tongue seemed to be caught in your throat.

“Listen honey,” she approached a little closer, “you look upset, do you wanna come in? I can make you feel better.”

You wanted to sprint out of there, but Bruce opened the door, his mouth open apparently ready to shout something before he noticed you. “Y/N.” he frowned.

“I-was-just about to knock.” You said quickly as your face became hot with embarrassment.

“You’d better come in.” he said quickly as he squinted at the lady.

As you walked in quickly, Bruce locked the door behind you. Bruce’s apartment was pretty neat. There were posters of various games and a few figures spread around here and there, most being of Lawrence’s anime girls.

“I ordered us some food. I’ll just go heat it up.” He went into the kitchen to pull two plastic bags out of the fridge. “Lawrence is going to be home around 12.” He said as one by one he placed the Chinese food containers into the microwave.

“Am I supposed to be staying till 12?” you asked a little cheekily as you sat comfortably on the couch.

You could tell Bruce was smiling as he had his back to you because his cheeks lifted and you could see his long smile lines on the side of his face. “Like I said, I guess we’ll just have to see where this goes.” Eventually, Bruce brought over two plates, some cutlery, and 9 boxes of Chinese.

You sat up and opened up one, tipping some of the sweet and sour pork onto your plate.

“You want to watch something?” he asked as he switched on the TV and flicked onto Netflix. He held the remote out to you but you allowed him to choose instead. He went straight to the comedy section and played one.

Halfway through the movie a thought stuck you, as a wedding played out on the television in front, you remembered Lindsay and Michael’s gorgeous one. “Bruce?” you said. He looked at you for a second and hummed. “How come we can’t tell the guys that we’re…a thing, but Lindsay and Michael can be _married_?” You watched as his jaw clenched and he sighed as he paused the movie.

“It’s different.” He murmured.

“Is it?” you shifted to face him, “How are _we_ any different.”

“They were dating for longer…” his voice sounded dry.

“Yeah but I’m sure they still told their friends at least when they went on their first date or two.”

There was silence before he looked at you, his eyes meeting anywhere but your own eyes. “We’re a smaller group. A closer group in some ways. I’ve known all these guys for forever. I know them. They’d think this was a bad idea.”

You didn’t want to say it, but it had to be said, “Then why _are_ we doing this?”

Bruce looked down in his lap and then smiled up at you. “Because I like _this_. _Us_.”

‘Whatever _this_ or _us_ was.’ You thought to yourself but decided to take the compliment instead. You both went back to silence, watching the movie and eating.

The movie finished, he chose another.  You were both full and awkwardly sitting at opposite ends of the couch. Should you move over to him? You looked at his position; he was lying against the arm with one leg dangling off and one leaning against the back. If you were to make any move it would be directly over his crotch, and you weren’t looking for that awkward moment. But you did want to show him exactly _why_ he was seeing you…

Bruce looked over at you and must have noticed your eyes darting between his body and his pants. He smiled and shook his head. He lowered his leg and sat up, caressing your arm. You curled up his side and leant your head just below his neck.

Your heart was beating fast now and his body heat mixed with yours made it feel like there was a warm blanket covering you both. Your mind was racing too fast to focus on the movie now. You began to run your fingers in little circles on his chest, he didn’t react. The movie finished and he chose another. Again, sometime through the movie, you brought your leg up a little so you were draped over him, he still didn’t do anything. The movie finished and he played a different one. Maybe he just didn’t want to do anything? You thought he was dropping a load of hints? All the flirting, the winking, him letting your curl up onto him? Was he just playing hard to get? You tilted your head up to look at him. He was staring at the TV; you may as well have not even been there. You were determined to make him notice you now. You reached upwards and kissed his Adam’s Apple, he did nothing. You brought your leg down so it was sitting in between his legs. You knelt over him slightly and began nipping at his neck and under his chin.

He chuckled. You’d cracked him. He placed a hand on your back and brought your face up to his and kissed you.  Immediately, your tongues began to twirl around. It came naturally as he began to tug at your shirt. He pulled it off and kissed down the front of your neck. You crawled off the couch for a moment and undid the button on your jeans, pulling them down and off. Now it was Bruce’s turn, as you lifted a leg over his lap to straddle him, you lifted his shirt up and over his head.

“C’mere.” He smiled at you and you leaned down so he could kiss you once again. He began to bite at your neck and run his hands up and down your sides, curving at your waste. Suddenly, you sat up us there was a shuffling at the front door. There was only one look of panic shared between you both before you heard a key being fitted into the lock. “Shit, it’s Lawrence.” He cursed.

A little too quickly, you got off him like a horse but knocked over a container of fried rice. “Where the fuck do I hide?” you whispered as you searched helplessly, thankfully, Lawrence seemed to be too drunk to get the key to stay in the lock.

“The fire escape, take the fire escape.” He rushed over to the living room window and pushed it open. Outside was the rickety fire escape stairs.

You gathered your clothes quickly but before you could climb out, the door knob began to turn. Bruce sprinted over to the door and opened it only enough to hide you.

“Oh hey, Lawrence. You’re home early from the party?” he said casually although he was slightly out of breath.

“Yeah, one of the guys was being a dick so I came home.” You could hear the confusion in his voice. “Am I allowed in?”

Bruce looked behind his shoulder, you had just climbed out of the window and was now beginning to quietly and slowly, tiptoe down the shaking stairs. He moved out of the way and let Lawrence enter.

Lawrence squinted around the room, “have you got enough Chinese food?” he asked sarcastically.

“Do you want some?”

That was last thing you heard before you were out of ear shot. You continued to descend the escape in your underwear in darkness until finally, you reached the ladder. Shakily, and hoping you didn’t get fucking tetanus, you climbed down the rusty ladder into the dingy alleyway. Quickly, you dressed and found your car in the carpark. As you drove home, your phone lit up indicating a message. Bruce had texted you, ‘ _Sorry, didn’t want the night to end like that. Make it up to you_?’

You didn’t want to text back while driving so at the next light you began to text back ‘ _Depends what you have in mind ;)_ ’

‘ _Well it’s probably not what_ you _have in mind. But you’ll see_.’

You smirked. Your heart beat faster of every thought of what he might have planned. But then you relaxed when you told yourself not to get your hopes up. All night, a little thought swirled in the back of your mind, reminding you that if Lawrence hadn’t walked in, you might have gone pretty far, if not then _all the way_. It kept you tossing and turning throughout your whole slumber.


	4. Apologies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took for like fucking evvvveeeer to do but finally it's here! I'm so happy about all the positive feedback I've gotten from everyone, it's really encouraging and with out all your kind words you'd probably had to have waited like another few weeks for this. Hope you enjoy! I'm crossing my fingers that the next chapter will be here sooner than this one.

You walked into the front area of the office on Monday morning where Joel stopped on his way to the bathroom to smile mischievously at you. “Well hello there, Juliet.” He spoke with a little bow.

At first your heart felt like it had stopped completely, did they all know? Did Lawrence figure it out on Saturday? But then you regained colour in your face and realised that Bruce _probably_ would have told you. And besides, if they _did_ know, Joel was showing a pretty good reaction. “Right,” you said, “that’s me. 13 and an idiot.”

Joel chuckled, “Well, you have a little surprise waiting for you.” He walked off with a wink and left you and He walked off with a wink and left you and your heart beating rapidly. Your legs felt like jelly but yet you continued to carry yourself into the main office. You immediately noticed the red balloon elevated above your desk. As you walked closer, the flowers came into view, a beautiful bouquet of rainbow. You quickly walked over to it and picked up the card;

‘ _You are the Sun, the Moon, the Stars…and all that other good shit. See you later?_ ’

You giggled to yourself. You were aware that your cheeks were probably burning a crimson colour right now, but that didn’t matter as you looked over at Bruce, who was at Joel’s desk, typing something up. He was staring at you as you’d read the card and he smiled genuinely at your reaction. As Joel walked back in you quickly looked back down at the flowers. You leant down to take in their enticing fragrance.

“Do we have any idea who they came from yet?” He asked as Bruce went back to his seat.

“There wasn’t a name on the card. How’d he get in anyway?” inquired James.

Before they could continue with that subject, you interjected in an annoyed tone, “Wait, you read my card?”

“We all did.” said Lawrence, “and don’t you tell me you wouldn’t either.”

You rolled your eyes and sat down.

“I still don’t understand why you won’t just tell us.” Joel said as he leant on his elbows. “Is he like an axe murderer or something?”

Again, you rolled your eyes, “Please, I _do_ have standards.”

After that, everything seemed to go back to the usual work day. As you switched on your computer you looked over at Bruce again, when he raised his eyebrows at you, you frowned. He kept nodding towards you? Did you have something on your face? You went to wipe around your mouth but then he shook his head and mouthed, ‘the card’. You picked it up once again and reread the words. ‘ _See you later?_ ’ you looked back and smiled, ‘yeah.’ you mouthed back as you nodded.

At lunch time, you went out to Taco Bell with Lawrence, James, Adam, and Bruce, Joel and Matt had to eat in due to an exporting issue and Spoole wasn’t in the mood for tacos apparently. You sat next to Lawrence once you’d all gotten your food. All they went on about the whole time was the trip to Vegas they had planned. Lawrence, James, Bruce, Joel, and Adam had spent the last month or so planning out a road trip to Las Vegas where they’d stay for a week. Of course, they were also there for a convention, but it _was_ Vegas after all, and it would be James’ first time there.

“I’m still pretty pissed off that I can’t come.” said Adam sadly. He had originally planned on joining them but then a few family things came up and he had to cancel.

“Well, I’ll pour a few extra shots for you.” Lawrence joked as he took a rather large bite of his taco.

“Why isn’t Y/N coming?” James question brought you back into their conversation.

“Yeah, you should come.” Bruce said as he looked at you with a smile.

Despite the fact that a week away in Vegas sounded like a fucking amazing idea right now, and that Bruce would be with you…you had to decline, “I can’t guys, I wasn’t chosen to go to the convention, and I don’t have the money for _Vegas_. And what would I do on the days you guys are at the convention? Because again, I really don’t have the funds to get in all three of the days.”

“Well, rob a bank or something. We need a girl wingman, chicks love when you have other girl friends” said Lawrence.

Bruce shook his head and chuckled, “No, I’m pretty sure they fucking hate it when you have other girls as friends.”

Throughout the rest of your lunch, all they talked about was who was driving when during the trip.

* * *

 

The rest of the day continued a little…unproductively…the flowers created a pretty enticing distraction and at least 3 or 4 times every 5 minutes or so, you found yourself leaning over and taking in their divine fragrance. Then there was the balloon, which attracted your eyes like a magnet, you’d slip into a daydream as your gaze drifted upwards towards it. By the time you finally finished the last video you were set to do, everyone had already left. You shut down your computer and gathered up your things. As you shut the roller door behind you, you noticed that there were two cars still in the parking lot; yours and Bruce’s. You walked around to the driver’s side of your car to find Bruce once again waiting, leaning on the car door.

“Hey.” He said, smiling.

“It’s late.” You smiled as well.

He looked up at the moon, “I see.” he sighed, “Well, I was wondering, you know the party Fullscreen is holding Friday night?” You nodded. He reached out a hand and softly caressed a line from your shoulder to your hand, which he held gently. “Would you bestow upon me the highest honour and accompany me?”

You heart leaped, your stomach buzzed, and your face felt hot. “Yeah, of course, I’d love to.” You replied quickly.

“Well,” Bruce began, his tone a little less cheerful this time and a little more anxious, “I mean, you’d be accompanying me but not actually…with me, I guess.”

You gulped down the happiness you’d felt just before rush around your body. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…that we’d go to the party separately…but still together, in a way.”

You clenched your jaw and thought it through. This sucks. Bruce was amazing and he made you feel incredible, but you couldn’t even tell people about the little…fling?.. you guys had. You couldn’t show your affection for him publicly. How long would it be before Bruce was _finally_ comfortable announcing it? And before that, would all the secrecy and hiding just get too stressful and inevitably end your relationship?

You came to the conclusion that maybe all of this was worth it. That maybe Bruce was worth it. You’d never know if you ended it now. “That’s fine.” you said, and you could tell that from the tone of your reply, reluctant and hard, that Bruce knew you weren’t ecstatic about it.

He moved out of the way so you could duck into the driver’s seat. You started the car and wound down the window. He rested his elbows on the sill and leaned in to kiss you on the cheek. “I’m sorry about this.” He apologized.

“Yeah well…I seem to be hearing I’m sorry from you a lot lately.” You grumbled. You didn’t mean to be rude but it just annoyed you that he can be so okay with just keeping everything hushed up but if anyone even has the slightest suspicion he freaks out and freezes. He stepped backwards and you drove away. Maybe you shouldn’t have been so passive aggressive towards him. He was only doing it in both of your best interests. Or at least that’s what he made it out to be like.


	5. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk man, it felt really weird to write jealous Bruce, I don't like it. Anyway, love you guys, enjoy!

The party was already pretty full and you had to push through to get to the bar. The Fullscreen parties were more of a social gathering rather than a party so music _was_ playing, but it was muffled out by the crowd. The lights were dimmed but none of them flashed like in a nightclub. It was easy to have a conversation here. And an even better incentive to come was the free alcohol. You ordered a fruity cocktail and sat on one of the stools, waiting for Bruce to arrive.

He had cornered you on your way into the bathroom in the office on Wednesday. “What’s up?” you asked, you were still pretty disappointed in Bruce’s decision but you’d decided not to hold it against him. All of Tuesday you’d been thinking about how it’d be if your roles were reversed, how you’d feel. You liked Bruce; you really did, admittedly when he had asked you out the other week you were caught off guard. You hadn’t expected _that_. But it came as a nice surprise. Your crush on Bruce was nothing more than a few blushes and stolen glances at him. Every time he smiled, which was pretty often, your heart would melt. His laugh was the weirdest but happiest and genuine thing you’d ever heard and it always had you smiling and laughing along. He could make you laugh even on your worst days. But to think for even one second that he’d liked you back all this time? If someone had told you that you would be dating Bruce a year ago, you’d laugh in their face and probably scoff. He just _never_ showed it, in any way. Maybe it was a recent thing? In any case, you were glad he’d said something; that he’d made the first move, because God knows you never would. You thought about how you trusted Bruce, how if the roles were reversed, you’d trust him to respect your feelings. He wasn’t ready to tell people, he was scared-or anxious to tell the others in case they broke this up. You understood that. That’s why you were still seeing him, and that’s why you were even going to this gathering, whether “accompanying him but separately” or not, you were here to see him.

“So, I know I fraised it a little weirdly the other night and I feel like I need to clarify what I meant. I’m inviting you to this party to go with me…but we’re going to get there separately…and everyone else with think we’re just there as friends…” he said slowly and cautiously.

“Yeah, I understood Bruce.” You forced a reassuring smile; it kind of annoyed you to hear him say it out loud like that, but he was speaking as if he didn’t want to offend you and that was _not_ how you wanted him to think of you. “It’s fine. We can meet up when we both get there, socialise as “friends”. It’s okay.”

He let out a sigh of relief, “Alright, awesome, I’ll probably get there around 9 alright?” You nodded and he patted your arm with what he thought was a softness that showed he was sorry.

In the groups of people talking you spotted Lawrence chatting with James, some other guy and two women. You looked around for Adam but couldn’t see him anywhere. You checked your phone; it was 8:52PM. Matt was sitting on one of the comfy chairs parked around the edges of the room, he was laughing with Sean who was apparently hearing the most hilarious story of all time from Matt.

“Hey.” You were taken off guard by the voice as you searched for Joel. You looked over at the guy sitting next to you. He was smiling and you noticed distinct dimples underneath his beard scruff. His hair flowed behind his head in a wave that only movie stars had.

“Hi.” You smiled back and sipped your drink.

“You here as a party crasher or were you invited?” you noticed the sarcasm in his voice but you replied anyway.

“I work for Rooster Teeth. They’re partnered with Fullscreen.”

He nodded slowly. “I’m Nick.” He was smiling again as he introduced himself and his smile must have been magic because it made you giggle like an idiot.

“I’m Y/N.”

“Well, Y/N, can I get you another drink?” He offered.

You looked down at your drink. It was empty. You must’ve been slurping it down that whole time. You hadn’t even noticed. “Yeah, sure.” You chewed your lip and as he ordered your drink you turned back around to the party. That’s when you saw him, Bruce, walking into the bar. He caught your eye immediately and smiled with a wave. He then nodded towards Lawrence and Matt and mouthed that he’d be right there. You nodded and looked back at Nick who was handing you your drink. “So what about you?” you asked to further the conversation, “Are you just a party crasher or do you work somewhere?”

“I work for Fullscreen. I’m their market campaign manager. I take care of where their name is shown and other shit. I help organise parties like this as well.” he said.

“Well, then, if I _was_ just crashing for the free drinks, would you throw me out?” flirty but you knew that if you were going home with anyone tonight, it’d be Bruce. Which at that moment, you looked over at the group chatting only to find that he was staring at you already. He looked serious and concerning, he was squinting at you, at Nick and you could see his jaw clenched from several feet away. You smiled briefly at him only to show him that you knew he was there, that you hadn’t completely forgotten about him and that you weren’t about to run off with this guy you’d just met.

“Y/N?” Nick brought you back to him and you noticed his eyebrows furrowed.

“Sorry what was that?” you’d missed what he’d said while you were looking over at Bruce.

“Where’d you go?” he chuckled softly.

You smiled and shook your head, “I do that sometimes. Anyway, what did you say?”

“I said, that I don’t kick out beautiful people.” he licked his bottom lip after he said it. The line did nothing to change your mind from Bruce, but it was still sweet, and Bruce was talking to other at the moment, so why couldn’t you talk to someone?

“Thank you.” you giggled again. “Do you live in L.A?”

“Yeah,” he said, taking a gulp of his drink, “born and bred actually. I seem to have grown attached to it, every time I try to leave it just sucks me back in. How about you? I thought Rooster Teeth was residing in Austin?”    

You were about to reply when Bruce interrupted. “Y/N, hey, I heard you were here.” he winked at you. Then he turned to Nick and suddenly his gaze was cold and threatening, “Sorry, who are you?”

Nick sounded awkward and uncomfortable when he replied, “Uh-Nick, I was just chatting with Y/N.” he sounded almost defensive, as if telling Bruce that he wasn’t doing anything to hurt him.

“Right, well, Y/N let’s go and talk to Matt…or something.” Bruce ushered you away from him by your arm and as soon as you were out of earshot you forced your arm out of his grip.

“What was that? I was _just talking_ to him, Bruce.” You said quietly so no one would hear your little feud.

“Oh, so giggling at everything he says is ‘just talking’?” You’d never heard Bruce speak like this before, he was always so cheerful and caring, but now he sounded angry and a little condescending.

“ _Why_ are you getting so jealous? We were just chatting. You were talking with those girls, why can’t I talk to someone?”

Bruce tried to grab your arm again but you stepped away. “Listen, I’m sorry, I just-I’m just scared that…I’m going to lose you. I know it’s shitty that we’re keeping this so quiet and I’m just worried that you’re going to see how much easier it is if you just went with someone else.” His eyes wandered to everywhere but at you.

You didn’t know what to say. You cupped his cheek and scratched his beard before the words came, “Bruce,” you said gently, “the whole time I was talking to him, I was thinking about how I wanted to go home with _you_. I want to be with _you_ , Bruce.”

Bruce finally looked into your eyes, he looked grateful. “You’re so beautiful.” The words came in an almost whisper, but you heard them loud and clear. Your mind shut off for a moment and only those words bounced around. They seemed to make your whole body feel warm. Nick had just called you beautiful but for some reason, when Bruce said it like that, it felt so much better.

All you did was smile. When someone bumped into you both, you were brought back to your senses and you quickly brought your hand back down to your side. “I’m kind of tired.” You really weren’t, but you said it just so Bruce would know you wanted to go. “Wanna get out of here?”

At first, his smile was wide as if he was agreeing, but then it dropped and he sighed loudly, “I really wish I could, honestly you have no idea how much I want to get out of here with you right now, but I’m supposed to be doing a Destiny raid with Lawrence tonight.”

“Ditched for Destiny, that hurts.” you joked.

He chuckled, “Let me walk you to your car.”

He led you outside and into the street where about a block down, your car was waiting.

“I’ll talk to you later.” He bid you goodbye with a gentle kiss on your cheek and let you get into your car.

The whole ride home was filled with Bruce’s words echoing around your head. Your mind started to wonder into what other context those words could be said. That’s when you started to fantasize about you sitting atop Bruce as you rode his cock, his hands gripping your hips tightly as he whimpered and choked about how fucking beautiful you were. You’d had sexual fantasies about Bruce before, but now you got excited about the fact that you could actually make them come true.


End file.
